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September 23, 2005 - Amid the growing fight against student obesity, a local legislator wants to keep the soda and fast-food ads out of sight by banning them on school buses.

State Sen. Richard Moore, D-Uxbridge, is sponsoring a bill that would block advertising for soda, sports drinks, candy, fast-food restaurants and processed foods with high sugar and fat contents.

"I think we do have to be concerned about influencing young minds in a direction that's certainly not in their best interests from a health standpoint," he said.

Moore, chairman of the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing, first proposed the measure last year, but hopes this year it gets a boost from the American Beverage Association's recent announcement about limiting soda offerings in school vending machines.

The group's board approved a policy last month calling for only water and juice in elementary schools. Middle school vending machines can also have sports drinks and no-calorie soft drinks, under the policy. Only high school students would have access to sodas, up to 50 percent of vending machine space.

"It's becoming a broadening concern in the public, even among school officials and the industry," said Moore, who also has proposed legislation mandating vending machines with healthy food be placed in state buildings.

Massachusetts began allowing school bus advertising in 2002. Ads are restricted to the sides of buses and can only cover 25 percent of the exterior. Cigarette, alcohol and tobacco ads are prohibited.

Three years later, only a dozen or two districts tap into bus advertising money, said Glenn Koocher, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees.

Milford and most surrounding communities are not among this group, though Millis seriously considered it in 2003. The Mendon-Upton School Committee approved the idea in 2004, then never moved forward because the company it planned to contract with experienced some problems, Superintendent Paul Daigle said.

"It turns out not to be a huge revenue source," Koocher said. "We didn't think it would be."

Still, Koocher said his organization supports having the option of advertising and opposes a bill to repeal it. Hearings were held on that proposal and Moore's yesterday at the State House.

As for Moore's bill, Koocher said his group wants school districts to decide for themselves.

"We would like districts to be free to regulate that as a matter of social policy," Koocher said. "There are very few social issues that have been resolved effectively by Massachusetts' policy."

Bob Dauria, president of Boston Billboards in Everett which sells bus advertising, said the proposal could mean less money for schools.

"It just limits the type of advertising you can have on a bus, hence a school district may not receive the money it budgeted for or thought it would receive," he said. In addition, Dauria said many fast food restaurants now offer healthier menus to meet customer demand.

"What you have to understand is when these companies advertise, they want the business," Dauria said. "They want the customer to buy from them, so they're going to be smart ads. I think fast food companies... they're understanding the trend that people want to eat healthy, so I think they would advertise healthy food."

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